APIC merges Daraz and Kaymu in Asia

by Tariq Ahmed Saeedi

27 Jun 2016

Asia Pacific Internet Group (APIC), a joint venture of Rocket Internet and Ooredoo, last Friday unexpectedly announced the merger of two e-commerce businesses – Daraz and Kaymu – and the creation of a new entity, called Daraz Group, to operate the two sites.

While Daraz will continue to run as a business-to-consumer marketplace for branded products with value-added-services, Kaymu will keep helping small businesses and individuals to trade with the community.

“Both Daraz and Kaymu have built successful operations in their respective markets,” Bjarke Mikkelsen, co-chief executive officer of Daraz Group, said in a statement. “The merger is the next step to offer our sellers the best possible solution to grow their online businesses.”

Together, Daraz and Kaymu are active in at least 22 countries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Kaymu accepts listings of used goods and new goods.

Recently, we reported (here) that Africa Internet Group (AIG), 33-percent owned by Berlin incubator Rocket Internet, planned to consolidate its verticals under the Jumia brand in Africa.

It was not clear whether the Daraz/Kaymu move was the start of similar consolidation plans at APIC. Here you can look at the APIC portfolio, with a few verticals and a general classified site (Myanmar’s Ads.com.mm).

The newly-formed Daraz Group selected Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial and financial district, as its base for the information technology, marketing and business intelligence parts of the operation.